Roller thrust-bearing.



UNITED STATES PATENT Orrica.

WINFIELD S. ROGERS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THEBALL-BEARING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ROLLER THRUST-BEARING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,775, dated December26, 1899.

Application filed August 26, 1899. Serial No. 728,538. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WINFIELD S. ROGERS, of Boston, Suffolk county,Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRoller Thrust-Bearings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention,pertaining to improvements in roller thrust-bearings,will be readily understood from the following description ,taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a planof the roll-disk of my improved bearing; Fig. 2,a diametrical sectionthereof in the plane of line a of Fig. 1 in conjunction with the thrust-surfaces between which the roll-disk operates and Fig. 3 a sectionthrough a portion of the roll-disk in the plane of line b of Figs. 1 and2.

In the drawings, 1 indicates-a metallic disk, and 2 a second similardisk,the two disks being secured together face to face and forming theroll-disk; 3, a series of pivots permanently uniting the two diskstogether; 4, a series of mortises extending through the compoundroll-disk, these mortises having concave side walls and having theiraxes radial to the axis of the roll-disk, the mortises of the seriesbeing disposed at differing radial distances from the axis of theroll-disk, so that in radial relation the mortises of the series breakjoint with each other or overlap, so that between the inner end of thefirst mortise of the series to the outer end of the last mortise of theseries there is no radial point in the roll-disk which would not sweepacross a mortise of the series, the illustration showing such series ofmortises in triplicate, each series circumferentially overlapping theother, the arrangement thus presenting the aspect of three overlappingspiral segments, each formed by a series of the mortises; 5, acylindrical roll disposed in each mortise, the length, of the roll beingsufficiently less than that of the mortise to prevent binding and thediameter of the roll being sufficiently greater than the thickness ofthe compound roll-disk to permit the periphery of the roll to projectsomewhat from each face of the roll-disk, the distance between theconcave side Walls of the mortise being such as to embrace the rollwithout binding it 6, a disk disposed at one face of the roll-disk andhaving its face en gaged by the rolls projecting therefrom, this disk 6constituting one of the roll-tracks and typifying either the fixedabutment of the hearing or a disk interposed between the rolls and suchfixed abutment and free to turn with reference to the rolls and suchfixed abutment; 7, a similar disk disposed at the opposite face of theroll-disk and similarly engaging the roll and constituting the otherrolltrack and typifying either the rotary element of the bearing or aloose disk interposed between the roll-disk and such rotary element ofthe bearing, and 8 an aperture through the disk-roll and through disks 6and 7 and intended to permit the presence of a shaft in case the bearingis designed for use as a thrust collar-bearing on a shaft, this aperturebeing of course not necessary if the hearing be employed as astep-bearing, requiring no shaft to pass through it.

The rolls and the first surfaces engaged by them, as typified by thedisks 6 and 7, should be formed of hard steel. The axes of the mortises4 lie in the plane of the joint of separation between disks 1 and 2, sothat the compound roll-disk acts as a cage for the rolls. If the bearingis to be used as a thrust-bearing upon a collared shaft, then theroll-disk will be bored to fit loosely upon the shaft and the rolls willengage the surface of the shaft-collar and the surface of the bearingwhich receives the abutting thrust, or preferably the disks 6 and 7 willbe employed between the rolls and the collar and abutment bearing,respectively. The number of mortises and rolls will of course dependupon the size of the disk and the nature'of the duty imposed upon thebearings-the greater the number of rolls the greater the ability of thebearing to withstand a heavy thrust. If the bearing is to be employed asa step-bearing under a shaft not required to project through it, thenthe rolldisk need not be bored, and any of the usual step-boxes orsupports may be employed in preventing its lateral displacement.

Bearings of this general character have been employed in which ballswere held in a compound disk similar to my roll-disk; but such bearingshave in practice proved incapable of withstanding heavythrust-pressures,

the balls crushing under pressures not at all interfering with the easyworking and long durability of my bearing. Bearings of this general typehave also been constructed provided with conical rollers held inrnortises in the roll-disk, the rolls being engaged by conicalthrust-surfaces. In other words, the lines of contact between the rollsand the thrust surfaces were disposed focally with reference to theintersection of the axes of the roll-disk and of the rolls.Theoretically it would appear that the conical arrangement just referredto was correct and that the cylindrical rolls and flat thrust-surfacesof my bearing were wrong; but practice has demonstrated that thecylindrical-roll arrangement is greatly superior to theconical-rollarrangement as regards easy running and as regardsdurability.

I claim as my invention 1. In a rollerbearing, the combination,substantially as set forth, of a disk having through it a series ofrectangular mortises at varying radial distances from the axis of thedisk, a cylindrical roll loosely disposed in each of said inortises andadapted to engage the end and side walls thereof, and a flat diskdisposed at each side of said disk and engaging said rolls.

2. In a rollerbearing, the combination, substantially as set forth, of adisk haying through it several series of rectangular mor tises withtheir major axes radial to the axis of the disk, the mortises of eachseries being arrangedin spiral order and the several spiral seriesoverlapping each other, a cylindrical roll disposed loosely within eachmortise and adapted to engage the end of the side Walls thereof, and aflat disk at each side of said disk and engaging said rolls.

WINFIELD S. ROGERS WVitnessesz H. STORER BARRY, ROBERT W. HUNTER;

